Kyūdō photos

Kyūdō (jap. 弓道, The Way of the Bow) is the art of Japanese archery, which is practiced since the 16th century.
 
About historic photos on Korean archery I have written in my first Blog (Walter Ulreich in Seoul: http://walterulreich.blogspot.com/2014/10/koran-nationwide-archery-competition.html). By and by I dicovered some Japanese historic photos on archery also. The strange design of the Japanese bow always fascinated me.

Wakatsuki Reijirō (若槻 禮次郎, 21 March 1866 to 20 November 1949) was a Japanese politician and the 25th and 28th prime minister of Japan. The text on the backside of this photo says "Premier Wakatsuki of Japan at archery practice in the garden of his official Tokyo residence. He takes a keen interest in the art, practicing whenever an opportunity permits. The Premier is also a judo expert." The photo is dated 12 August 1926 and shows stamps from 'Acme Newspictures' and 'Newspaper Enterprise Association'. This is an original press photo and retouching work can clearly be see on the outfit. 

Unknown archer, the photo is by Photostudio Misawa in Tokio, round 1920.

Hand coloured Japanese albumine print from about 1880-90.

Further reading:
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABd%C5%8D

http://www.kyudo.com/kyudo-k.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakatsuki_Reijir%C5%8D